These Lebanon bombings seem to be a bit indiscriminate….
What comes Next?
Israel turns to its foe in the North….
Israel has not claimed responsibility for this week’s audacious attacks using booby-trapped wireless devices against members of Hezbollah, but the country’s prime minister and defense minister issued statements on Wednesday making it clear that the military’s focus was shifting from the war in the Gaza Strip, along Israel’s southern border, to Lebanon, where Hezbollah operates.
“The center of gravity is moving north, meaning that we are allocating forces, resources and energy for the northern arena,” Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defense minister, said on Wednesday in an address to troops at an air base in northern Israel. “We are at the start of a new phase in the war.”
Mr. Gallant’s comments came just after Israel’s cabinet officially adopted a new, formal war goal this week: ensuring that tens of thousands of residents of northern Israel who have been displaced by attacks from Hezbollah can return safely to their homes.
Later on Wednesday, as the exploding-attacks continued, Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, issued a video statementemphasizing the same goal. “I already said that we would return the residents of the North securely to their homes, and that is exactly what we will do,” he said.
Hezbollah, a militant group designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, has been targeting northern Israel with rockets and drones since last year in solidarity with Hamas and its war against Israel in Gaza. Both militant groups are supported by Iran and want to eliminate the state of Israel.
The daily exchange of fire between Hezbollah and Israel has been destructive, disruptive and sometimes deadly for Israelis and Lebanese living along the border, and it has raised concerns among world leaders that a wider regional war could break out and draw in Iran…..
….
Second day bombs stronger….
The two-way radios that exploded in Lebanon on Wednesday were larger and heavier than the pagers that blew up across the country on Tuesday, and in some cases set off larger fires, according to a New York Times analysis of the available visual evidence.
The devices, seen in photos and a video of the aftermath of Wednesday’s attacks, were nearly three times heavier than the pagers, and while the blasts on Wednesday were not as widespread as the earlier ones, they set off more large fires, suggesting that they might have contained more explosives.
The Lebanese health ministry said that at least 20 people had been killed and more than 450 wounded. That added to the toll from Tuesday, when the blasts from pagers killed 12 people and wounded over 2,700 others, according to the ministry….
What is Hezbollah?
Hezbollah is a Shiite Muslim group formed in the 1980s from the chaos of Lebanon’s long civil war to fight the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon, which ended in 2000. The name Hezbollah is Arabic for “Party of God.”
In recent decades, Hezbollah has grown into Lebanon’s most effective political party and fighting force, and has expanded its operations into Syria, Iraq, Yemen and elsewhere in the Middle East. In Lebanon, it has deep roots in parts of society and an extensive apparatus to support its mission, including offices dedicated to social services, communications and internal security.
Hezbollah and its political allies lost their majority in Lebanon’s Parliament in elections in 2022, but the group remains a formidable political force that exercises de facto control over parts of the country, including southern Lebanon, which borders northern Israel.
Why are Hezbollah and Israel fighting now?
Hezbollah’s military wing has been targeting northern Israel for nearly a year in solidarity with Hamas and its war with Israel in Gaza…..
The exploding pagers and hand held radio was made by Israel….
Not by a Taiwanese company….
By all appearances, B.A.C. Consulting was a Hungary-based company that was under contract to produce the devices on behalf of a Taiwanese company, Gold Apollo. In fact, it was part of an Israeli front, according to three intelligence officers briefed on the operation. They said at least two other shell companies were created as well to mask the real identities of the people creating the pagers: Israeli intelligence officers.
B.A.C. did take on ordinary clients, for which it produced a range of ordinary pagers. But the only client that really mattered was Hezbollah, and its pagers were far from ordinary. Produced separately, they contained batteries laced with the explosive PETN, according to the three intelligence officers.
The pagers began shipping to Lebanon in the summer of 2022 in small numbers, but production was quickly ramped up after Mr. Nasrallah denounced cellphones.
Some of Mr. Nasrallah’s fears were spurred by reports from allies that Israel had acquired new means to hack into phones, activating microphones and cameras remotely to spy on their owners. According to three intelligence officials, Israel had invested millions in developing the technology, and word spread among Hezbollah and its allies that no cellphone communication — even encrypted messaging apps — was safe anymore….